Peppers, Tillman, McClellin win Piccolo award

New Bears coach Marc Trestman and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker looked on Tuesday morning as Julius Peppers and Charles Tillman were honored as veteran recipients of the Brian Piccolo Award.

The club selects a veteran and rookie annually who exemplifies the courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor of the late Bears running back who died of cancer in 1970. In a rare instance, two veterans shared the award and Shea McClellin, last year’s first-round pick, was chosen as the rookie honoree.

Players put stock in the ceremony that the McCaskey family firmly supports because they do the voting. It was the third time Tillman has been honored and a first for Peppers, who has been voted to three Pro Bowls in three seasons with the organization.

Trestman and Tucker are hoping the defensive veterans will be pillars for the unit this coming season as the team transitions with a new coaching staff.

“The leadership is the foundation,” Tillman said. “Myself, Pep, Lance (Briggs) — and I’m speaking defensively now — we’re the cornerstone that’s trying to get this defense to try to outdo what we did last year.”

Defensive line coach Mike Phair talked about work Peppers does off the field that catches his attention. The physically gifted pass rusher works hard in the classroom taking notes on his craft.

“I always like to take notes because you never know it all,” Peppers said. “Once you think you know it all, that's when you start falling off. It's always good to try to get a little better every day.”

The soft-spoken McClellin credited veterans with helping him find his way in his first season.

“As a rookie, just kept my mouth shut and did what they said,” McClellin said. “That’s what I did and like they were saying, they lead by example. They don’t really say much but I learned a lot from Julius and even the older guys in the D-line room, I learned so much from all of them that I can take with me for years.”

NFL Charities presented a check for $50,000 to the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Foundation. The group has raised more than $8.2 million since 1970.